


In Haunting Memory

by Dr_WD_Gaster



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Danny Phantom
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Don't Judge Me, Don't worry, Feel-good, Gen, Ghost Investigation, Maybe - Freeform, feel good ending at least, horror?, in my humble opinion, it will all be explained, okay so it's au on the Danny Phantom side
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-01-04 09:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18340748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_WD_Gaster/pseuds/Dr_WD_Gaster
Summary: “This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we investigate the Fenton household.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is probably going to be a two-shot. So don't expect anything from me.

“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we investigate the Fenton household.”

_“16 years ago, in 2003, Maddie and Jack Fenton finished the invention of a lifetime. A ghostportal.”_

“A what?”

Ryan sighed, he knew this was going to be a long day when he stepped into the car. To keep Shane’s reaction to Ryan’s stories genuine, he wasn’t allowed to read them. But Ryan just knew that Shane was going to be difficult about this one.

“Yes, a ghostportal. A doorway from this world to the next.” Ryan said dryly, as he shifted in his chair.

“You’re saying they built one? From candles and spells, or?” Shane asked as he gestured with his hands.

“No no, an actual machine. With metal, and nuts and bolts. I know it sounds insane b-”

“It sounds more than insane, how do you even do that?” Shane interrupted.

“If you could let me continue, I could tell you!” he half yelled in frustration. He went ahead when Shane nodded. _“Maddie and Jack Fenton built a ghostportal, based on the blueprints they made when they studied Paranormal Sciences at Wisconsin University. The pair moved here because of “the natural thinning between worlds.””_

“That’s all well and truly interesting, but did it work?” the taller man asked, as he fiddled with a piece of equipment.

“That’s the thing, they never found out,” he said normally before shifting to his narrator voice. _“When it was time to test the machine, it didn’t work. Their 14-year-old son, Danny, had friends over and decided to show them the portal. His friends, who will remain unnamed, dared him to go inside. When he was in, the portal activated, according to one of the friends, “It glowed a bright green, before it started crackling. Like lightning. Then it exploded, and nothing was left.” Danny’s body was never found, but they say his spirit haunts the house, still.”_

“They never found a body? That sucks for the parents.” Shane sounded truly sad for them.

“They said he was vaporised by the initial blast. Too much electricity for the human body to handle. The parents had a daughter, too. She’s a psychologist now, she specializes in severe trauma cases.”

“Wow, way to turn a tragedy into motivation. But you said the kid haunted the house?”

_“The wreckage of the portal was cleaned up, and a few families lived here since, but never more than a year. The basement is said to be the most haunted, as stuff routinely went missing or got displaced there. His old bedroom is also a very active area, as he doesn’t allow people to change the wallpaper and ceiling decorations.”_ Ryan finished his tale and shut the manilla folder.

Shane, outfitted with his usual handheld camera, stood up and nodded to Ryan. “So, where to first?”

He shrugged, “This house has two very active spots, so maybe we could investigate first before going either up or down.

“Sure, lead the way then.”

The both of them made their way into the living room. If not for the thick layer of dust, it looked like any standard living room. A tv stuffed into a corner, and a plush couch and coffee table in front of it. Shane tried to turn the tv on but nothing happened.

“Must have been cut off from electricity years ago.” muttered Ryan mostly to himself, as he wandered closer to the kitchen.

It looked ordinary enough, no flying cutlery, no cold spots. All fairly normal.

“Is this the way to the basement?” Shane asked as he gestured with his light, to the black gaping hole going down.

Ryan hummed, but turned his attention up to the stairs. “Hey, before we go to the big kicker, shall we try the spirit box in his room? I brought some stuff that he’d might like. ‘Cause he’s a teenager. Brought an old gameboy.”

“That’s surprisingly thoughtful, nice going buddy.” Shane commented as they made their way up the stairs.

The fifth step creaked loudly, scaring the heck out of Ryan, and making Shane laugh. The room was the first on the left, again with a very creaky door. The room itself was just as dusty as the rest of the house, but what stood out most were the constellations painted on the ceiling. A few NASA posters hung on the walls, and a model rocket stood on a dresser near the bed.

Shane sat down on the bed, who sneezed because of the dust he kicked up, and Ryan took the office chair.

He made some space on the desk, and turned on the spirit box. Shane winced at the horrifying sound, and Ryan just frowned a little.

“Hello. I’m Ryan, and the big guy over there is Shane, and we’re trying to contact the spirit of the boy that died here. Danny Fenton.”

Other than the spirit box, there was no reply.

“Is there something here with us?” Shane asked a few moments later.

At first, it seemed like nothing was going to happen, until a very distinct, “Yes.” came answered.

Shane looked at Ryan in startled surprise. Who could only stare back, wide-eyed.

“Oh my God, Shane. Is there someone her with us? Can you tell us your name?”

The spirit box crackled a little, then sounded, “Danny.”

“Oh my fucking God, Shane, I swear I’m losing my marbles. You heard that right?” Ryan said as he panicked and grabbed his holy water.

Shane opened his mouth to say something but the spirit box beat him to it. “Won’t work.” it crackled.

“Okay, I’m starting to show some doubt here, buddy.” Shane looked at the box, and then back at his friend, who was practically cowering against the desk now.

“Some doubt?” Ryan whisper shrieked. “He said my holy water wouldn’t work. The fuck do you think that means.”

“Turn off.” the box said suddenly.

“Turn off what?” Shane asked as he scanned the room.

“Sound, too loud.” it replied.

“Is the spirit box making too much noise?” Ryan asked in a fit of bravado.

“Yesss.” it hissed.

“Okay, okay. No need to get mad. We’ll turn it off.” Shane said as he swiftly killed the power.

Nothing happened for a few good minutes.

“Do you think he’s gone?” Ryan ventured as he stopped crouching.

Out of nowhere, the door slammed shut, and all the lights went out. Taking the camera and audio with it.

“Shane.” Ryan whispered, as he clutched the other’s sleeve.

In the far corner of the room, two glowing green lights _blinked_ , and started _laughing._

“Well, boys. With those pesky camera’s out of the way, we can finally have a real talk, don’t you think?” a third voice said as he shimmered into being. Snow white hair, and glowing slightly he floated towards the middle of the room. “Nice to meet you, my name is Phantom, but you might know me better as Danny Fenton.

Ryan screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY, I had the inspiration to finish this. Holy cow, that took me long enough. I hope you like the second chapter as much as the first!

The first thing Danny noticed as he came out of the portal, was that there were voices in his house. Now, that didn’t really bother him, he’d seen some weirdness before. A cult had tried to set up shop in the basement, but that was about as crazy he was willing to accept, so when it turned out they were a, uhm, _mature_ cult, Danny had chased them out.

That didn’t mean that he wasn’t curious about these two.

He floated over, invisible, and listened to what was going on.

They were looking around in the living room and kitchen, shining their flashlight all around.

The tall one motioned toward the old lab. “Is this the way to the basement?”

Danny almost wanted to answer, _no that goes to the attic_. But didn’t when the other came over too.

“Hey, before we go to the big kicker, shall we try the spirit box in his room? I brought some stuff that he might like. ‘Cause he’s a teenager. Brought an old Gameboy.” the other said.

At once, Danny understood. These people weren’t just snooping around, they were investigating. They were searching for ghosts. Specifically, for _him._

Well, it certainly wasn’t the first time somebody wanted to have a chat with him. He hadn’t always responded, mostly because he couldn’t at first. Too weak to even have a corporeal form most of the time, it just wasn’t worth the effort. But in the last decade, nobody had tried. Not after he’d accidentally chased away the previous family.

Really, it wasn’t his fault that Cujo had followed him out of the Zone, in his slightly more monstrous form.

As they moved up the stairs, to his old room, Danny decided that he was going to have some fun, for once.

In the Zone, he was stuck behaving like a poster ghost most of the time, mainly because of his position as Clockwork’s assistant. Which was also why he was in the human world in the first place.

So, moving up with them, snickering slightly as the smaller one jumped because of the creaky step, he followed them to his old room.

He hid in the corner, watching as they pulled out a weird looking box, then turned it on.

The sound was horrendous. It was so loud he couldn’t hear himself think.

“Hello. I’m Ryan, and the big guy over there is Shane, and we’re trying to contact the spirit of the boy that died here. Danny Fenton.”

Now, Danny knew a lot about creeping someone the fuck out, but the device was much harder to control than it seemed. He couldn’t just say his name out loud, ‘cause they would hear it, but getting the damned device to do what he wanted was a lot harder than expected.

He only managed a measly, “ _Danny_.”

It freaked them out though, which was a bonus. They’d obviously hadn’t had much success yet, or else a name wouldn’t be so spectacular.

The box continued its ear-bleeding sound, and Danny decided he wanted it off. And he said so.

He wanted to up the ante a little. When the box finally ceased, he banged the door shut with the wave of his hand, and drained the energy from the batteries in the cameras and audio feed. He wasn’t stupid. Letting his eyes glow, and laughing as creepily as he could, he released the invisibility, and quite literally shimmered into being.

“Well, boys. With that pesky camera out of the way, we can finally have a real talk, don’t you think?” he asked, trying to be as haunting as possible. He’d learned a nifty trick from Skulker a few years ago, where he could make his voice echo more.

The smaller one screamed, loudly. The other merely continued to stare at Danny.

“Oh come on, don’t be scared,” he whispered as he floated over to Ryan. “I just want to have a talk.”

In his focus on Ryan, he had completely lost track of Shane, which is why he didn’t expect to be whacked on the head with a tabletop lamp.

“Ow. Fuck that hurts.” Danny said, dropping the spooky act. He felt the back of his head and hissed when he came in contact with the wound, pulling his hand away he saw the glowing green traces of ectoplasm coating his fingers.

“Stay away from him you, ghoul!” the tall one yelled as he went in for another hit. This time, as Danny saw it coming, he turned himself intangible, letting the lamp pass through him.

Ryan, not really thinking about it, snatched his holy water pistol out of its holster, and fired at Danny.

For Danny that was enough. With barely a thought, he summoned one of his ectoballs, and set it alight with unearthly green fire. “ **Stop it, before I make you**.” he threatened and felt a smug sense of satisfaction when both of them dropped their weapons.

“See, this is why I don’t so stuff like this. It only ends with me hurt, looking like the bad guy, or both!” he ranted as he counted on his fingers, before throwing his hands up in the air.

Danny began pacing in mid-air and mumbled some more, before stopping and looking at both Shane and Ryan and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, I get that you want to play ghost hunter, which is fine, but your little box thingy hurts like a motherfucker.”

“We’re sorry?” Ryan said although it sounded more like a cross between a plea and an apology.

“Yeah, man. We just wanted to talk to a ghost.” Shane backed his friend up.

“Well, I’m a ghost, what do you want to know?” Danny asked as he folded up his legs and went to float cross-legged.

They didn’t say anything for a long while.

“You weren’t thinking that far ahead?” he offered as he looked at the lost expression on Ryan’s face.

“The whole point of the show is to investigate if ghosts are real or not. Actually talking to one wasn’t really on the planning.” Shane admitted as he shrugged. “But I guess you are real.”

“HA! I told you so.” Ryan yelled as he pointed a finger at Shane. “Suck it up big boy, I won. And, I’ve got it on camera,” he said smugly.

Danny grimaced and shook his head. “Yeah, about that, I may have drained the batteries in the cameras...and audio...and everything else that has a power source.”

“But...but...why?” Ryan asked sadly, grabbing his phone and seeing that indeed it was out of juice as well. Shane gave him a shrug of his shoulders and a pat on the back.

“You know how much of a freak out it would cause if people knew we were real? Look at yourselves, I wasn’t even doing anything and you whacked me on the head with my own lamp. Not to mention, what it would do when people figure out they can hurt us.” Danny explained as he conjured a small ball of glowing green ectoplasm and started bouncing it off the wall, and then catching it.

“Then what about the rumours? About the other evidence gathered over the years showing that ghosts are real?” Ryan countered as he leant back in his chair.

“Circumstantial at best. Also, people are naturally ignorant, they don’t wanna see, then they aren’t gonna see.”

Shane looked very affronted and grumbled something under his breath about being a man of science.

“Wait, if you don’t want people to know you exist, then why bother talking to us?” Ryan asked suspiciously.

“Not to stroke your ego, but you’re quite well known in the Zone. Ryan and Shane from Buzzfeed Unsolved, right?” he grinned when they both nodded a little dumbstruck. “Never noticed that even though you guys visit the most haunted places, no ghost has ever shown up?”

“Wow.” Ryan breathed, “That actually explains a lot. I knew that there was something wrong. I just never expected it to be us.”

“Okay that’s all very fine, but to repeat Ryan’s question. Why are _you_ telling us this?” Shane asked.

“I didn’t plan any of this, but I have a feeling my employer did, I work for the Master of Time you see, he knows a lot of stuff.” When he saw the question of Shane’s lips he just shook his head. “Don’t bother asking, it’s too much to explain. Anyway, the thing is, someday you’re going to run into a ghost or a demon who’s not going to care about our secret, or about your safety. I’m giving you the deets now, so when that day comes, you know you should run.”

Shane looked oddly touched by that statement. “That’s very considerate of you.”

Danny scoffed. “I’d much rather you quit, but I know it doesn’t work that way. All I can do is inform you of our strengths and weaknesses so you know what to do, and what to avoid.”

Shane smiled. “I think we can live with that.”

* * *

_"This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we investigate the Fenton household. But this week’s investigation is going to be a little different. Out of respect for the family, and the young boy that lost his life here, we’re going over Danny Fenton’s life instead. Danny Fenton was born to two ghosthunters Ja-”_

_‘Ghosthunters. Really?”_

_“Yup, you heard that right. The two ghost hunters Jack and Madeline Fenton…”_


End file.
